Reading Books For Pleasure

[seela]

The Joke by Milan Kundera was really good and felt very timely and modern. Interesting how a little joke might ruin a life. Could ruin a life in the communist Czechoslovakia, could ruin today.

Manrape by Märta Tikkanen was also really good. The original title is Men Can't Be Raped, and the book is a very interesting look into the gender roles and the society in general in Finland in the 70s. A classic in the Nordics at least.

I also read a cool book about fascinating women in history, but that hasn't been translated.

 

[IrisAlthea]

I read Tikkanens book as a teen and again 15 years later or so. I liked it a lot both times.
Might be time for a reread when I find time and energy.

 

[seela]

Decoded by Mai Jia was one of the most challenging books I’ve read for a long time. Possibly ever. It goes in circles, everything starts from so far in the history that it seems pointless, there seem to be holes in the plot, things and motives behind actions are rarely explained and the literary devices are pretty bold. I found it so difficult to care about the book or the characters, but at the same time I just had to know how it ends.

It was definitely not at all what I thought it would be based on the name and the blurb. I’m still happy I read it. In some weird way it resonated in all its clinical, I don’t even know how to describe it, but maybe emptiness? claustrophobia?

What was nice about the book was that it held onto some very traditionally Chinese ways of story telling. Even if the story had taken place somewhere else, you might have been able to tell it’s really a Chinese story at heart. I love things like that.

Challenging. Off putting. Rewarding. Puzzling. What a strange reading experience.

 

[twister947]

A Man Called Ove
By Fredrik Backman

 

[Bramblethorn]

Cat Valente's "Space Opera".

If you loaded a confetti cannon with glitter and the spirit of Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and stood in front of it while listening to Eurovision highlights, that's kind of what this feels like. A washed-up former star in the vein of Freddie Mercury has to save the Earth from destruction by not losing an inter-species music contest.

 

[twister947]

How is that?

Quirky, in the same vein as Gran Torino without the hairy-chested violence. I see a bit of myself in Ove, and have to smile.

 

[IrisAlthea]

Decoded by Mai Jia was one of the most challenging books I’ve read for a long time. Possibly ever. It goes in circles, everything starts from so far in the history that it seems pointless, there seem to be holes in the plot, things and motives behind actions are rarely explained and the literary devices are pretty bold. I found it so difficult to care about the book or the characters, but at the same time I just had to know how it ends.

It was definitely not at all what I thought it would be based on the name and the blurb. I’m still happy I read it. In some weird way it resonated in all its clinical, I don’t even know how to describe it, but maybe emptiness? claustrophobia?

What was nice about the book was that it held onto some very traditionally Chinese ways of story telling. Even if the story had taken place somewhere else, you might have been able to tell it’s really a Chinese story at heart. I love things like that.

Challenging. Off putting. Rewarding. Puzzling. What a strange reading experience.

It sounds interesting.
I can think of two reading experiences that have left me with that feeling: Perec’s ”Life:a users manual” and Bolaños 2666.

I wish I had more spoons for reading things like that. Right now I stick with easily digested stuff and rereads.
Herriot is the prescription for bad times, always.

I am reading Northern Lights, Philip Pullman. It’s not grabbing me. A little too G rated. The book I read right before this was Filth, so maybe I’m still shell shocked.

I had to google because I know it as the Golden Compass.
I love that series. Last time I read it was with my oldest when she was a tween.
It does take a while to get into it though.

Cat Valente's "Space Opera".

If you loaded a confetti cannon with glitter and the spirit of Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and stood in front of it while listening to Eurovision highlights, that's kind of what this feels like. A washed-up former star in the vein of Freddie Mercury has to save the Earth from destruction by not losing an inter-species music contest.

Seems aptly named. =)
Good to see you post. I wasn’t sure what area you live in and how much the flooding would affect you.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Seems aptly named. =)
Good to see you post. I wasn’t sure what area you live in and how much the flooding would affect you.

I'm south of the badly-hit areas. We've had a bit of wet weather here but nothing like what they're getting. The floods up north have been catastrophic, and the minister who's supposed to be responsible for disaster relief announced a GoFundMe for it :-/

 

[seela]

It sounds interesting.
I can think of two reading experiences that have left me with that feeling: Perec’s ”Life:a users manual” and Bolaños 2666.

I wish I had more spoons for reading things like that. Right now I stick with easily digested stuff and rereads.
Herriot is the prescription for bad times, always.

I have a sequel for the book checked out from the library as well, but honestly, I think I’ll skip it at least for now. I don’t have the spoons either at the moment.

It’s so rewarding to challenge yourself with a book sometimes but it’s good yo know when the conditions are less than optimal for that type of literary adventure.

I’m trying to decide what to read next. Definitely something light. Maybe I’ll browse this thread for some inspiration.

 

[IrisAlthea]

I'm south of the badly-hit areas. We've had a bit of wet weather here but nothing like what they're getting. The floods up north have been catastrophic, and the minister who's supposed to be responsible for disaster relief announced a GoFundMe for it :-/

Good to hear.

A GoFundMe? Wow!
Sometimes I’m amazed but what work efforts people seem to deem good enough, but that is a whole new level of not doing your job.

I have a sequel for the book checked out from the library as well, but honestly, I think I’ll skip it at least for now. I don’t have the spoons either at the moment.

It’s so rewarding to challenge yourself with a book sometimes but it’s good yo know when the conditions are less than optimal for that type of literary adventure.

I’m trying to decide what to read next. Definitely something light. Maybe I’ll browse this thread for some inspiration.

Timing makes a world of difference.

Since Joan Didion passed away recently, have you read A book of common prayer by her. If not, I highly recommend it.
She is one of my favourite writers and I think that might be my favourite books by her.

 

[twister947]

Quirky, in the same vein as Gran Torino without the hairy-chested violence. I see a bit of myself in Ove, and have to smile.

Okay, I finished it. It's one of those stories that grew on me, as I got comfortable with the narrator's cadence. I ended up liking it very much.

 

[seela]

Good to hear.

A GoFundMe? Wow!
Sometimes I’m amazed but what work efforts people seem to deem good enough, but that is a whole new level of not doing your job.

Timing makes a world of difference.

Since Joan Didion passed away recently, have you read A book of common prayer by her. If not, I highly recommend it.
She is one of my favourite writers and I think that might be my favourite books by her.

I have read it but it's been a long time. I don't think I've read anything else by her though. Maybe I should pick up something.

Okay, I finished it. It's one of those stories that grew on me, as I got comfortable with the narrator's cadence. I ended up liking it very much.

I love it when that happens. Sometimes you click with a book immediately, other times the book resists a little, but if you keep at it, the click is so rewarding when it happens. It's the same with people sometimes, too, I've noticed.


I ended up reading Affiliate by Sergei Dovlatov. Absurdism, nostalgia, stagnating sameness, all wrapped nicely in one book. I'm not sure it's the best book I've read by him, but it was good.

Tomorrow I'll go pick up a book from the library and I'm really looking forward to reading it. Don't Sleep, There Are Snakes. Nice to have things to look forward to.

 

[seela]

Has anyone read The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity?

 

[IrisAlthea]

Has anyone read The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity?

No, but I read The Utopia of Rules: On Technology, Stupidity, and the Secret Joys of Bureaucracy and Bullshit Job by Graeber.
This one looks interesting too.

 

[seela]

No, but I read The Utopia of Rules: On Technology, Stupidity, and the Secret Joys of Bureaucracy and Bullshit Job by Graeber.
This one looks interesting too.

That sounds promising based on the name. Was it good?

 

[IrisAlthea]

That sounds promising based on the name. Was it good?

They are two books even if the subtitle of Utopia of Rules makes it sound like one.
They came highly recommended by a guy I know, who I had talked a lot about the themes of the books with, like bureaucratic labyrinths being constructed and the hilarity of the vocabulay taught at managerial courses.

I liked them both. Graeber has an eye for the absurdities of our society.

 

[Acktion]

Currently; Randi Darren, Incubus Inc.

Just starting, so no idea how good (or not) it might be yet.

Got steered to it when I finished William D. Arand, Super Sales on Super Heroes series. Overall, I am enjoying the Arand series and looking forward to the next book in it (four novellas so far). It started off a sci-fi/superhero (obviously) thing, but quickly got a D&D game scrambled into the comic book with a heavy leavening of Poli-Sci, Comparative Mythology, and Philosophy. The character development is a tad weaker for everyone other than the first-person narrator than I usually go for, but the storyline carried me along despite some odd skips and jumps in the narrative flow. (And some pretty glaring editing errors if that sort of thing bugs ya.) If you're looking for an erotic story (as I was), this ain't it. While there is, eventually, some sexy fun times, those all happen off-screen with hardly an allusion that they might have occurred. So, PG or PG-13 for sex. But, a definite NC-17 for violence, gore, and adult themes that he did... er... just a little too well.

Still, it interested me enough that I was looking for more from this author and found several written in the same worlds, following some of the other characters, picked one at random... and somehow got this Darren person instead. Not sure how that happened, but I'm gonna give it a shot.

 

[Acktion]

Ok, Incubus Inc. wasn't bad, if you are into the incubus mythos anyway. Lot of multi-world building. A whole lot more on-screen sex, which should be expected following an incubus main character. But, seriously dude? "Manhood?" This ain't your mother's 70's Harlequin.

Still a tad weak on character development other than the main, but that's one of the dangers inherent in that narrative style. I'd rather be a tad weak on character development than do the cop-out of head-hopping. And it's not like I've done any better in my offerings. I could appreciate the attempt to at least try to write strong secondaries and won't Monday Morning Quarterback. Better editing on this one, but still a few places where I slammed face-first into a sentence that was obviously modified in a rewrite, spell check didn't catch it since all the words were in the dictionary if in a totally fucked order, and had to just "Fuck It, Drive On" and figure it out in the following paragraphs.

Stickin' with the same world for the next, although goin' back to Arand with Dungeon Deposed. Maybe this one will be how all this got started. Seems to be so far anyway. A wizard got kicked out of his adventuring guild for not having a large enough mana pool to do much, despite his knowledge base, and made fun of for being "a one pump chump." Like, what could possibly go wrong there? As Dresden might say, "Wizards. Quick to anger and not always so subtle."

 

[twister947]

True North, by Jim Harrison

 

[Acktion]

Apparently, I started somewhere in the middle and worked backward or something.

Dungeon Deposed was an interesting trilogy. But, then, I enjoy the Dungeons and the Dragons. Anyone want to play Houses & Humans? It clarified a lot of loose ends that wouldn't have been loose ends if I'd read it first. Namely, who the heck these people were that suddenly showed up partway through the last book of the other trilogies. Computerized spellcheck still ain't the best editor. And I admit I'm one of those that tacking an s on the end of anyway drives me crazy. Particularly since this guy does it about every third or fourth dialogue, no matter which character is speaking. (Way is singular when any is limiting, you fuck!) Still could wish for a tad more character development from the secondaries, but I'm probably asking a bit much from D&D-based harem building stories. The sex scenes were a mixed bag of the off-screen references from the Heroes trilogy and the blatant in-your-face of the Incubus series. Lot more... mmm... "earthy" humor to this one.

Working on Otherlife Compilation; The Selfless Hero Trilogy now. Further back toward the beginning, if not the beginning yet, I think. Maybe. And it strikes me that there is some influence from Elizabeth Moon's Chaos Wars mixed with some SwordArt Online going on here. Although, Runner is the name of the main character. And every time I read it, all I can hear is "Run, runner!" Ah, well. At least it's not Alexander or something like that.

 

[Acktion]

Otherlife turned out to be a fun little romp. Not much on the sexy fun times if that is what you are looking for (as I was when I first stumbled into this series), although there is still some harem building as the base premise. A friend told me the Japanese name for this sub-genre, getting sucked into a video game, but for some reason, my mind keeps trying to spit out "Ikea" although I'm sure there were more letters in there that I seem to have misplaced.

The editing was a lot tighter for this one (although the rat bastard absolutely insists on putting an s on the end of anyway about four or five times per page), and the secondary character development was about as good as I figure it gets with this genre and so little time spread amongst so many. Srit in particular I would have liked to see more developed. But, all in all the most fun I've had with this sub-genre since probably Rosenberg's Guardians of the Flame back in the early 80s. (Not sure if that was the first of this sub-genre, the first I encountered, or just the first I can recall.)

Enough fun that I'm sticking with this author for another trilogy, Monster's Mercy. Not sure what to think so far since all I've got is a pretty graphic murder by a hitman with voices in his head that devolved into a rather humorous summoning that got him killed, causing him to fall dead in the pentagram at the summoners' collective feet. That last bit sparked my dark humor enough that I'm willing to see where it goes.

 

[IrisAlthea]

A friend told me the Japanese name for this sub-genre, getting sucked into a video game, but for some reason, my mind keeps trying to spit out "Ikea" although I'm sure there were more letters in there that I seem to have misplaced.

Isekai perhaps?

 

[Acktion]

Isekai perhaps?

That's the one. Thank you!

Thinking of changing my screen name to either "Glitch" or "Brain Fart"

Thank you!

 

[Acktion]

Finished the Monster's Mercy trilogy. And I can't shake the feeling of being Watched...

Any road, I found it enjoyable, with quite a few moments when I actually laughed out loud and then had to try to explain why. (Now, whether Watcher and Fearne actually intended for me to laugh at those specific points...) (And, yeah, I think I've figured out that you are both here and even who one of you is. And, if true, I stand by my comment on your story four or five years ago that was the damn dumbest ending you could have concocted short of "Who Shot Bobby." Glad to see you got better.)

Not sure exactly where Monster's Mercy was supposed to fit in the ongoing series I've been reading, apparently before some I've read and after others, and I'm fine with that. Not sure I would have stuck with it through the... eh... fifteen or sixteen books I've been through since I first mentioned them here if I had done them "in order." Then again, I'm not sure I would have stuck with Weber's Honor Harrington series if I hadn't jumped into the fifth book first and gotten a little bit of a literary crush on the titular character either, enough to stick through backtracking through the first four.

I hasten to add that unlike most series, this one only follows specific characters through a trilogy (or quadrilogy) story arc with appearances in the other trilogy (or quadrilogy) arcs. With heavy use of Isekai (thanks again IrisAlthea! Still try to say "Ikea" until I can reference your answer here, although I vastly prefer the term to "LitRPG"), the author(s) skip like a flung stone across the pond of not only characters but settings. The hareem seems to be a common thread, though... Well, and the clash between "us" and "them" (or "good" and "evil" if you want all that extra baggage on your literary romp).

Rene/Mask/Hood, the alternative Batman/Joker/Assassin's Creed, is probably going to be my favorite of the characters they've investigated when this is all done (and really hope he uses Runner and Ryker's testicles for a speed bag at some point), despite my already having found Ranger Vince in Wild Wastes (the next trilogy in the series arc I'm attempting) intriguing.

 

[IrisAlthea]

That's the one. Thank you!

Thinking of changing my screen name to either "Glitch" or "Brain Fart"

Thank you!

Heh, considering that the first word that popped into my head was ikebana, you might have to fight me for those names.
Or perhaps I could just claim broad and varied interests?